JOBSWORTH
- Nov 25, 2025
- 3 min read
The critically acclaimed 2024, one-woman riotous financial dark comedy about temp work in London, Jobsworth is transferring to London’s Park Theatre this winter.
Date: 19th November 2025 – 7th December 2025, 7 pm
Location: Park Theatre, 13 Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP
Tickets: £15 - £22
Interviewer: Nicole Kent
INTERVIEW
Libby Rodliffe – actor and writer of Jobsworth (Skin a Cat, UK Tour; Who Are We Now? Southwark Playhouse; Trapped, Cockpit Theatre).
Isley Lynn – writer of Jobsworth (The Swell, Orange Tree Theatre; Skin a Cat, UK Tour; War of the Worlds, New Diorama Theatre).
✍️ On Writing and Collaboration
How did the collaboration between you two begin, and what made you want to co-write Jobsworth?
Isley: Libby has been temping for a long time, and the stories that she would tell me about different employers, these crazy situations that they would put her in, sad and funny, made me think this could be a play. The stories were so drama filled already. Libby is also the funniest person I know, humour is in her bones.
Is there a particular age demographic you’re hoping to attract with this production?
Isley: We initially thought it would for young people, particularly millennials and under, but funnily enough, we get a lot of Dads in, and a lot of women as well with long time experience of the workplace. They are often laughing in the loudest!
Libby: We thought we had it figured, the audience demographic, we were pretty confident it would be millennial, but as the fringe went on, the audience got older. I think that's a good sign.
Do you have plans to turn your play into a TV show or film?
Libby: We have been developing it with Brock Media for TV. I definitely see it as a TV show.
💷 On Themes and Impact
The play explores class, money, and self-worth with sharp wit. How do you see comedy as a tool for addressing serious societal issues?
Libby: I think the humour of it comes from the ridiculousness of it. We’ve done a lot of work on the kind of the characters that you meet. They are stereotypical in terms of them being very recognisable.
Isley: The humour comes from this really laser pointed observational comedy that is in Libby's bones. It reveals how money is crazy. Capitalism is crazy. It makes people crazy.
How have audiences in London — many of whom may relate closely to Bea’s situation — responded to the piece?
Isley: We had lots of audience members approach us at the Edinburgh Fringe. For example, I had a boss who told me after watching the show that he really wanted to sort his finances. We both feel passionately about touching on how financially illiterate we are generally, as a country.
In your opinion, how are people financially illiterate today, and how do you think that lack of financial knowledge is affecting their lives?
Isley: There are a lot of people making money out of people in the UK being financially illiterate i.e. they don’t have the tools to understand the contracts that they’re in, they’re taking out loans that are very, very easy to get. And not only that, you can get multiple loans. It’s a product that’s sold to us. Often the interest rates are variable and they're not transparent about that. Once you're in it, you're in it. That's it. Then it’s not about budgeting. If you've got something that is accruing money all the time while you're still paying it, that's something you can't get out of. It is no longer a budgeting problem. It’s a trap, which you can’t get out of.
Libby: It can also be student debts, mortgage debts. Essentially rent is debt, if you if you've signed a lease. We're all in debt in some capacity.
Do you think men and women have different relationships with money?
Isley: One of the darkest things that we took a deep dive into for one of the characters and specifically, is the amount of debt that men are in and how much higher it tends to be than women, and that's because of cultural imperative on them to be providers.
Nicole: It hits them harder because it’s a man's entire being is his job. When they're unemployed, that's usually when they’re at their lowest.
Lastly
What do you want audience to take away from the play?
Libby: I would like people to feel easier about talking about money. It should make audiences reflect and think, ‘I hope I wasn’t that kind of boss,’ or, ‘I’ve definitely had a few of those bosses.’
Isley: Ultimately, we just want our audience to have a good night at the theatre.
Isley Lynn Libby Rodliffe
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